1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adjusting method and apparatus for the home position of ink fountain blades of a printing press.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an ink supply source of an inking device of a printing press, a plurality of ink fountain blades having a specific width are arranged against an ink fountain roller along the roller's axial direction. These ink fountain blades have a mechanism for adjusting the inking amount at an opening degree suited to the printing pattern amount.
Usually, the ink fountain blades are adjusted at the time of machine maintenance by an operator manually turning the ink adjusting screws of the individual ink fountain blades on the basis of the zero point (home position) of the position of forming an ink film of a specified micron unit smoothly on the ink fountain roller.
However, the thus adjusted zero point position actually drifts, due to thermal expansion by temperature changes, because the parts of the ink supply source are made of metal materials. Also the ink material used in printing varies in its flow characteristics due to temperature or kneading condition, and the ink film amount at the zero point position is varied.
Therefore, in daily operations, the ink film amount at the zero point position on the ink fountain roller changes to be slightly insufficient or excessive along the width direction of the ink fountain roller depending on condition changes at any given moment.